Tesla CEO Elon Musk has pointed out who is Tesla’s real rival, and, surprisingly, it’s none of the carmakers most people would think of.
With the appearance of Tesla in the automotive industry it is easy and usual to raise a clear dispute of a new manufacturer come to revolutionize the sector with its electric cars against the traditional ones that have always based their business on combustion engines. Tesla seemed determined to change everything and force its competition to follow in its footsteps. Therefore, anyone who asked the question of who is his rival, would answer with the name of some of the car brands of a lifetime. However, Elon Musk has his sights set on a much bigger battle than that. Its biggest rival today is none of those manufacturers.
Tesla is representing a paradigm shift in the automotive industry and is being key to its electrification. With the Model S he showed that an electric car can be as good or even better than a combustion car. With the Model 3 he confirmed that electric vehicles have a legitimate space in the high-volume sales market. But Tesla has always maintained that while its electric cars are its company’s flagship product, they are only part of a much larger ecosystem, of a broader vision of the future.
Through Twitter, Musk pointed out who his real rival was. When Tesla’s market capitalization surpasses that of Saudi Arabia’s Aramco, then the planet will have changed course. Who is Aramco? It is a Saudi oil, gas and petrochemical company, with its origin and headquarters in Dhahran, employing 76,000 people worldwide. “When the market capitalization of Tesla, which makes sustainable energy products, exceeds that of Aramco, which produces fossil fuels, you’ll know the future will be good for the Earth,” Musk wrote on Twitter.
That’s Tesla’s rival. It is not Volkswagen, the traditional manufacturer that is putting more impetus (and more money) is its electrical transformation. Neither is Ford that seeks to launch many electric models in the coming years, nor Stellantis that with all its brands will put on the market an offer that will cover all needs. Not even Rivian or Lucid, two new additions to the sector with a strategy similar to the one followed by Tesla to start with a striking and premium product that attracts attention.
No, Tesla’s main rival is one of the world’s largest gas companies. Aramco had a market capitalization of $2.431 billion in May 2022. Tesla, which today is the automaker with the highest stock market value is worth $786 billion, and has reached $1 billion at its time in May value. In any case, the gap between the two companies is still very large.
Tesla has plans to increase its value in the coming years. And it will not do so only with its electric cars but will expand its field of business beyond them. It has already done so with its products related to solar energy that integrate with a future home ecosystem in which another market with a great future, artificial intelligence, will be present, with an HVAC for intelligent air conditioning and a Tesla Bot with which almost anything can be done.
If Tesla can shape an ecosystem of renewable solutions it would become the antithesis of a company like Aramco, and could be on the path to defeating it as the world’s most valuable company.
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